The actress, best known as Lady Jane Jacks in ABC's daytime soap opera General Hospital, passed away of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease - a rare condition that affects the brain - in her Los Angeles home on Monday (December 26).

Tarbuck starred in General Hospital from 1996 to 2010 as Australian billionaire Lady Jane - the loyal mother to Jasper (Ingo Rademacher) and Jerry (Sebastian Roché).

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She more recently appeared in Ryan Murphy's horror anthology American Horror Story: Asylum as Jessica Lange's compassionate Mother Superior Claudia, featuring in five episodes during the second season.

Throughout an esteemed career, her other TV credits included guest roles in Dexter, Mad Men, Glee, The Event, Nip/Tuck, The Golden Girls and Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Away from TV, she also had parts in the films Big Trouble, Curly Sue, The Tie That Binds, S. Darko and 2004's Walking Tall as Dwayne Johnson's mother.

Tarbuck was born in Detroit, Michigan and started acting at the age of 9 on the WWJ children's radio show Storyland.

She studied acting at Wayne State University and also attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art on a Fulbright Scholarship, before receiving her masters degree in theatre from the University of Michigan.

She is survived by her producer daughter Jennifer Lane Connelly, son-in-law Samuel Chawinga and grandsons Cianan and Cuinn Chawinga.